From Food to Fashion... Shinsegae Department Store Yeongdeungpo Completes Renewal After 10 Years Since Opening

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Shinsegae Department Store Yeongdeungpo Branch has completed its renovation.

Shinsegae Department Store announced on the 26th that after 10 years since its opening, the Yeongdeungpo Branch, which has been undergoing renovations, will complete its transformation on the 27th by unveiling a new food court and an overseas fashion specialty hall. In particular, it plans to attract customers by introducing numerous popular restaurants and famous brands that have not been seen in the existing local commercial district.

According to Shinsegae Department Store, the Yeongdeungpo Branch has the highest proportion of customers in their 20s among all Shinsegae stores. While the proportion of customers in their 20s across all Shinsegae stores was 11% last year, Yeongdeungpo Branch recorded 13.2%, which is 2.2 percentage points higher. This indicates that the store has many trend-sensitive customers and a great capacity to absorb new brands.

With this renewal, Shinsegae Department Store Yeongdeungpo Branch aims to attract young customers, who are potential VIPs of department stores, and establish itself as a regional landmark. Additionally, since Yeongdeungpo Branch is connected to Times Square, it also considers the demand from nearby office workers.

First, the food court offers a variety of local popular eateries. Located on the basement first floor of the fashion hall with an area of 294㎡ (89 pyeong), this space features about 10 popular food items such as lunch boxes, snack foods, jokbal (pig’s trotters), and gimbap.

‘Hongmidan,’ a snack bar that started in Bangbae-dong, recreates the garaetteok tteokbokki from Busan’s Kkangtong Market. Besides tteokbokki, it offers unique menus such as fried gimbap and dried filefish. The price for one serving of tteokbokki is 3,500 KRW.

‘Songuri Dakgongjang,’ which offers chicken and dakgangjeong (sweet crispy fried chicken), targets young customers with a special visual presentation by serving dakgangjeong and cheese in a waffle cone. It is available for the first time at Yeongdeungpo Branch along with ‘Dogawon,’ a boiled jokbal specialty store, and ‘Yoon’s Kitchen,’ which serves old-fashioned lunch boxes.

‘Ttoi Ttoi Vietnam,’ frequently featured on famous cooking shows, has also opened a store. Its main menu is Vietnamese banh mi sandwiches, and the bakery-trained chef kneads and bakes the bread in-store, ensuring high quality. Fresh vegetables and ingredients also satisfy customers.

‘Seoul Hotteok,’ which has gained popularity through word of mouth in Hongdae, Seoul, and Seomyeon, Busan, operates as a pop-up store. It is a local popular eatery gaining traction on social networking services (SNS), offering heart-shaped hotteok colored pink using cheonnyeoncho (prickly pear cactus).

The second floor of the fashion hall will also be newly transformed. Instead of casual brands, many global brands will be newly introduced to elevate the status of the Yeongdeungpo commercial district.

The overseas fashion specialty hall, opening with an area of 2,182㎡ (660 pyeong), will feature brands that have not been available in Yeongdeungpo before, such as Emporio Armani, Herno, Alexander Wang, Max Mara, Fabiana Filippi, Pleats Please, Bao Bao, N21, and Vivienne Westwood.

Starting with the living specialty hall in October last year, Yeongdeungpo Branch has successively renewed and opened the food specialty hall and young fashion specialty hall this year. The living hall attracted industry attention with its bold attempt to fill an entire building with lifestyle genres, and the food specialty hall, opening on the first floor?the face of the department store?was also praised for its daring innovation.

Park Soonmin, Executive Director of Shinsegae Department Store Yeongdeungpo Branch, said, “Through innovative renovations that break the existing mold, Yeongdeungpo Branch has risen as a landmark shopping center in the southwestern commercial district. We will continue to lead customer satisfaction with differentiated content and composition.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.